From toilets and baths to energy-efficient heating systems, the world’s biggest sanitation trade fair is where you’ll first see the technology that eventually makes it into our bathrooms. *Monocle* pays a visit.

The most anticipated date on the bathroom industry calendar is the ISH (International Sanitation Heating) fair in Frankfurt. Monocle was there to seek out the latest and the best in taps, sinks, baths and toilets.

We were leaving work late this week and were in high-ish spirits. We jumped into our minicab and I noticed that our driver had a crutch slid between his seat and the hand brake. I stupidly joked that I hoped that he was fit…

Monocle's editor at large and Japan's most famous footballer, Hidetoshi Nakata, takes a break from his busy schedule to join Tyler Brûlé in Frankfurt as the city hosts ISH, the world's leading bathroom fair.

The future of the bathroom at ISH fair in Frankfurt, we drop in on a toymaker in Jakarta, an animator in Berlin, and a graphics team in Porto, and hear how design is playing a role in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict…

Independent British cinema has been richly enhanced by the talents of veteran Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas and darkly humorous auteur director Ben Wheatley. The two met in London recently to discuss their new col…

While Pakistani cricket lurks under the shadow of corruption and international cricket’s integrity looks in jeopardy, one match, played in the lean shadow of Christ Church spire, Southgate, boasts a certain purity.

While Pakistani cricket lurks under the shadow of corruption and international cricket’s integrity looks in jeopardy, one match, played in the lean shadow of Christ Church spire, Southgate, boasts a certain purity. On a…

Japanese masters of animation Studio Ghibli are undergoing a subtle transformation as co-founder Hayao Miyazaki hands over the reins. But Monocle’s Robert Bound says its treasured characters are in safe hands.

At Studio Ghibli, that most wonderfully imaginative of animation production houses, there has been a changing of the guard. Hayao Miyazaki, at the helm of so many of the Japanese studio’s classics – Spirited Away, Howl’s…

What the hell do we do now? This morning London’s airports are filling up with athletes heading home from the Olympics. It’s a nylon ocean of the tracksuited and fit.

What the hell do we do now? This morning London’s airports are filling up with athletes heading home from the Olympics. It’s a nylon ocean of the tracksuited and fit. Some are carrying golden discs in their luggage; others…

We never saw it coming but that’s because it was too dark: our design editor takes an unexpected dislike to the dimmer switch.

After a decade of preaching the importance of low lighting, I’m going to stick my neck out, perform an audacious design U-turn, put my hands in the air and wave a small white flag of surrender: maybe I got it wrong. My…

Professor Sid Watkins, who died on Wednesday evening at the age of 84, unified Formula 1 motor racing.

Professor Sid Watkins, who died on Wednesday evening at the age of 84, unified Formula 1 motor racing. That in itself is a one-off epitaph, a rarity enough to ensure near-legendary status and sizeable mentions in disting…

I’m loving the Tour de France. Yeah, the cycling’s good and, as the field heads into the mountains, it’s getting compellingly, leg-bustingly gruelling, but what about Bradley Wiggins and his sideburns?

I’m loving the Tour de France. Yeah, the cycling’s good and, as the field heads into the mountains, it’s getting compellingly, leg-bustingly, lung-sandpaperingly gruelling, but what about Bradley Wiggins and his sideburns…

That London has already moved on from Julie Sillitoe’s death last week is proof of the unsettling power of urban renewal in the face of tragedy, says Andrew Tuck.

The city marches on. But sometimes its ability to heal itself, shrug off adversity, ignore the arrows of fate and God can seem too strong. Sometimes it feels like a cold-hearted place. Didn’t you just see what happened?

For her last meal, British fashion designer Margaret Howell would choose a venue and menu as simple and quintessentially English as her eponymous clothing brand – a picnic on a windswept beach near her weekend home on the…

South Tyrol, the mountainous northern border region of Italy that meets Austria and Switzerland, requires its own air service that reflects the area’s remote beauty, high quality of life and fine traditions. Here’s our…

Something for your weekend: Monocle’s global selection includes a sculpture show in the Yorkshire countryside, an art fundraiser in New York’s SoHo and, for the more intrepid, a marathon in West Africa.

Can’t stand the heat, get out of the city: if you’re looking for an escape from London’s Notting Hill Carnival this weekend, head north to Yorkshire for ‘Hot Touch’, a contemplative exhibition of recent works by Eva Roth…

Paper is dead, ink is drying up, the newsstand is a wasteland and the future will be backlit, animated and user-generated. That may be if you’re a tech entrepreneur riding around on your Segway in Marin Country and you’ve…

Paper is dead, ink is drying up, the newsstand is a wasteland and the future will be backlit, animated and user-generated. That may be if you’re a tech entrepreneur riding around on your Segway in Marin Country and you’ve…

The inspiration for this venture came about either in the living room of my Aunt Anita’s house in Toronto 32 years ago or around a table at Die Brücke in Hamburg circa 1991. Regardless of dates and location, the spark was…